Method and system for analyzing the control of a vehicle

1. A method for improving an operation of a vehicle having an autonomous driving unit configured for autonomously controlling the vehicle and a control takeover management unit configured for passing over control to a human driver, which comprises the steps of: detecting, via a detector disposed in the vehicle, a change in a driving mode from autonomous driving to manual driving, the detecting including at least one of: determining a point in time a control takeover request is outputted by the control takeover management unit, determining a point in time the human driver takes over control from the autonomous driving unit, and determining a point in time when the human driver assumes safe control over the vehicle; monitoring, via a sensor disposed in the vehicle, at least one driving parameter during the autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver controlling the vehicle; determining at least one driving quantity describing the combined driving quality of a vehicle temporarily controlled by the autonomous driving unit and temporarily controlled by the human driver, via an evaluation unit, based on obtained driving values provided by the sensor upon monitoring the at least one driving parameter during a time interval ending at, starting from or including a point in time determined by the detector, wherein a driving behavior of the autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver as characterized by the obtained driving values is compared to a driving behavior of the driving units and/or human drivers of reference vehicles as characterized by a quantity distribution of driving values provided by a plurality of reference vehicles, and a difference between the driving behavior of the autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver and the driving behavior of the driving units and/or human drivers of reference vehicles corresponds to the at least one driving quantity; configuring, via a configuring unit disposed in a computation facility and based on the at least one determined driving quantity, a risk management model for assessing an effectiveness and/or safety of control takeover events in the vehicle having the autonomous driving unit and the control takeover management unit; outputting, via a computer system disposed in the computation facility and having the risk management model, assessment data obtained by executing a configured risk management model; and operating the vehicle based on the assessment data.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on an information regarding a software change and/or hardware change in the control takeover management unit.

3. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises monitoring the at least one driving parameter by determining a time interval between the autonomous driving unit outputting the control takeover request and the human driver taking over control.

4. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on a time interval between the autonomous driving unit outputting the control takeover request and the human driver taking over control, and on a vehicle dynamic variable during the time interval.

5. The method according to claim 4, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on a product of the time interval and the vehicle dynamic variable during the time interval, wherein the product reaches or exceeds a threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises storing the driving values obtained during the monitoring for a predetermined storage time interval spanning at least from a point in time before the control takeover request is outputted by the autonomous driving unit to the point in time the autonomous driving unit outputs the control takeover request.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one driving quantity is a composite quantity.

8. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on an autonomous driving quantity quantifying a quality of driving of the autonomous driving unit before the change in the driving mode and on a manual driving quantity quantifying a quality of a driving of the human driver after the change in the driving mode.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the at least one driving quantity is further based on mileage accumulated in a respective driving mode.

10. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on an autonomous driving quantity quantifying a quality of the driving of the autonomous driving unit after the control takeover request is outputted by the autonomous driving unit and on a manual driving quantity quantifying a quality of a driving of the human driver subsequently to him taking over control.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one driving quantity is further based on accident rate values for autonomous driving or manual driving after the takeover control request is outputted by the autonomous driving unit and subsequently to the human driver taking over control, respectively.

12. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on driving values obtained by the monitoring during a predetermined first-time interval prior to the autonomous driving unit outputting the control takeover request.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one determined driving quantity is interrelated to a quantity distribution of a same driving quantity.

14. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the at least one driving quantity based on a quantity distribution, the quantity distribution being determined based on driving value data provided by a plurality of vehicles.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the driving value data is generated by driving value statistic units provided in each of a plurality of vehicles, the driving value statistic units monitoring at least one driving parameter of each of the plurality of vehicles and transmitting corresponding driving values to a server.

16. A system for improving operation of a vehicle, the system comprising: an autonomous driving unit disposed in the vehicle, said autonomous driving unit configured for autonomously controlling the vehicle; a control takeover management unit disposed in the vehicle, said control takeover management unit being configured for passing over vehicle control to a human driver, a sensor disposed in the vehicle, said sensor configured to monitor at least one driving parameter during said autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver controlling the vehicle; a detector disposed in the vehicle, said detector configured to detect a change in a driving mode from an autonomous driving to manual driving, said detector performing at least one of the following: determining a point in time a control takeover request is outputted by said control takeover management unit, determining a point in time the human driver takes over control from said autonomous driving unit, and determining a point in time the human driver assumes safe control of the vehicle; an evaluator configured to determine at least one driving quantity describing the combined driving quality of a vehicle temporarily controlled by the autonomous driving unit and temporarily controlled by the human driver, based on obtained driving values provided by said sensor upon monitoring the at least one driving parameter during a time interval ending at, starting from or including a point in time determined by said detector, wherein a driving behavior of the autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver as characterized by the obtained driving values is compared to a driving behavior of the driving units and/or human drivers of reference vehicles as characterized by a quantity distribution of driving values provided by a plurality of reference vehicles, and a difference between the driving behavior of the autonomous driving unit and/or the human driver and the driving behavior of the driving units and/or human drivers of reference vehicles corresponds to the at least one driving quantity; a computer system disposed in a computation facility and having a risk management model configured to assess an effectiveness and/or safety of control takeover events in the vehicle having said autonomous driving unit and said control takeover management unit, said computer system configured to output assessment data obtained by means of said risk management model and used for operating the vehicle; and a configuring unit disposed in the computation facility, said configuring unit configured to configure the risk management model based on the at least one driving quantity.